


murmur

by onceuponaplot



Series: 30 Day Writing Challenge - November 2014 [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Steve Rogers as the Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-03
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-02-23 22:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2557970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponaplot/pseuds/onceuponaplot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Writing Challenge Day 2/30</p>
<p>The Captain shifts again, and the Soldier looks away from the office building just long enough to get a glimpse of him as he lowers the binoculars. The Captain’s eyes catch his for a second before he speaks. “Less than two minutes until they’re back in the office. Be ready.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	murmur

He has exactly two secrets, and there is not a soul in the world who knows about them.

His purpose is to follow orders, not to speak, and to put these thoughts into words would be to give his handlers something to take from him. So he holds them inside himself, silent and unknown, and dares not even think of them too often lest they are somehow discovered.

He is a good soldier. He follows his orders, completes his missions, and does not question what he is told. To do otherwise means they will punish him, and even without being able to recall any time it has happened, the thought sends an icy chill down his spine.

He reminds himself of this as he resettles himself on the roof, searching for a better angle, and puts the presence next to him out of his mind.

The sound, when it comes, is little more than a murmur: “Report.”

People mill around in the office building he is watching, tiny figures magnified in his scope. He counts out three seconds before he responds, doesn’t remove his eyes from the target as they make their way across the office floor. “Target in sight. Not in the office yet.”

Beside him, his partner shifts and then stills again, and he wonders why they are even here. This mission is simple, and even the Soldier’s presence is more than enough to guarantee success.

The Captain shifts again, and the Soldier looks away from the office building just long enough to get a glimpse of him as he lowers the binoculars. The Captain’s eyes catch his for a second before he speaks. “Less than two minutes until they’re back in the office. Be ready.”

His first secret is this: he has worked with the Captain before. He cannot remember when, or why, but he has, and he knows it with a certainty he cannot explain. The familiarity of the Captain’s features hit him like a punch to the gut every time he sees them.

The Soldier concentrates on the target, the Captain crouching next to him close enough that even through their body armor, the Soldier can feel the heat rolling off of him.

The target walks into their office. Shuts the door.

Neither of them speak as they make their way back to the safehouse. The Captain stands by the window, and in the quiet the Soldier makes himself busy upstairs, cleaning his weapons and checking his arm. It’s not until their extraction team arrives that the peace is broken by the clamor of a fight.

The Soldier is down the stairs in a moment, knife in one hand, but it’s already over.

The Captain stands in the center of the mess, a team of four agents unconscious around him, and then he looks up. It feels like hours before the Captain says anything. His fists clench and his voice cracks when he tells the Soldier, “I’m not going back.”

It takes him mere seconds to come to a decision, and he places the knife back into the sheath at his hip.

The Soldier’s second secret is infinitely more dangerous than the first: the Soldier does not disobey orders. The Captain makes him consider it.

“Where are we going?”


End file.
